246 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



strike him, or even get within a stone's throw of him; 

 but the deer will get more and more careless, and 

 stand longer and longer at each stopping-place, and 

 even begin to feed, until finally the pursuer gets a 

 pretty fair shot at him. 



I am here compelled to go outside of my own ex- 

 perience. I never would pay so high a price for a 

 deer as such hunting involves, and consequently never 

 tried it. But I have time and again met Indians in 

 the woods following a trail on a dog-trot, and talked 

 with them about it. And I have known friends of 

 mine stopping at the same camp at which I was stop- 

 ping try the same thing. There was always a pretty 

 general agreement about two things: 



ist. That a deer may often be shot in this way, but 

 that in general it will take nearly an all-day tramp of 

 at least three miles an hour, and for anything like cer- 

 tainty it should be at least five miles. 



2d. That some deer cannot be overtaken in this 

 way in one day; but the pursuer must camp on the 

 track and take it again in the morning, or must re- 

 turn to it if he goes off to camp. The second day, it 

 is said, is quite sure to end the chase; but often the 

 first day will not. I once knew two men who were 

 most tireless trampers try it for three successive 

 days on only an inch of snow that had been stiffened 

 by a thaw, and give it up. They had to take differ- 

 ent deer every day, as they left the trail each night so 

 far from camp that they thought their chances better 

 with a new one. 



On the whole, this is a mode of hunting suitable 

 only for a man of great endurance who cares not how 

 soon he works out the mine of youth and health ; and 

 even such a one had better let it alone unless the 



